Roll changing device for a rolling mill and the like

ABSTRACT

The disclosure of this invention relates to a rail guided car adapted to be located on the operator&#39;&#39;s side of the rolling mill for engaging the adjacent end of a set of work rolls of the mill for removing and replacing the roll set relative to the mill. The car supports the rolls in a cantilever fashion and includes a counterweight which is readily and accurately adjustable to permit accurate control of the roll set when being lowered in the mill. The car also includes a linkage system for the member that engages the ends of the rolls for assuring that the rolls are maintained parallel to a desired plane even though the rolls are adjustable while carried by the car.

United States Patent Shumaker [451 Sept. 16, 1975 ROLL CHANGING DEVICEFOR A ROLLING MILL AND THE LIKE Charles Storer Shumaker, Glenshaw, Pa.

Assignee: Wean United, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa.

Filed: Mar. 27, 1974 Appl. No.: 455,423

Inventor:

US. Cl 214/1 D; 214/142; 2l4/DIG. 4 Int. Cl. B66F 9/04 Field ofSearch... 214/147 R, 142, l D, DIG. 4, 2l4/DIG. l0; 2l2/55, 48, 8 R, 8A, 9

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/1932 Remde 214/147 R 3/1943Brosius 2I4/DIG. IO

France 2l4/147 R Primary Examiner-Robert .I. Spar AssistantExaminer-George F. Abraham Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Daniel Patch; HenryC. Westin l 5 7 ABSTRACT The disclosure of this invention relates to arail guided car adapted to be located on the operators side of therolling mill for engaging the adjacent end of a set of work rolls of themill for removing and replacing the roll set relative to the mill. Thecar supports the rolls in a cantilever fashion and includes acounterweight which is readily and accurately adjustable to permitaccurate control of the roll set when being lowered in the mill. The caralso includes a linkage system for the member that engages the ends ofthe rolls for assuring that the rolls are maintained parallel to adesired plane even though the rolls are adjustable while carried by thecar.

3 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures N QN t 3 Q FIIIIEQFiT W.) E w! 4 7 L. .iL.Frfi. W E

FATENTEU SEP 1 1975 SELIU 1 UF 3 PATENTEBSEP I 61975 S' iZZY 2 UF 3II|ULIE|IIII ROLL CHANGING DEVICE FOR A ROLLING MILL AND THE LIKE Whileautomatic and very rapid work roll changing devices have been providedin many recent four-high rolling mills, many mills still employ porterbars or C- hooks to remove and replace the work rolls. Usually the rollsare removed one at a time, although porter bars are in use that removeand replace the rolls in pairs.

Porter bars and C-hooks require the service of a mill crane which is notonly very time consuming and prevents the crane from being used forother necessary purposes, but makes accurate guiding and positive han'dling of the roll orrolls impossible. This results in not onlysubstantial delay in properly positioning the rolls in the mill andaligning the rolls with the couplings of the driving spindles, butpermits the rolls to be banged about resulting in damage to the millparts and to the rolls themselves including the back-up rolls. In orderto remove the rolls from the mill they are required to be lifted fromthe lower back-up rolls in a very limited space an when replaced theyhave to be lowered onto the lower back-up roll. In the past, during thisoperation many time the upper back-up roll was forcefully hit by theupper work roll and the lower back-up roll with the lower work rollresulting in many cases in damage to the rolls.

Notwithstanding the disadvantages of employing C- hooks or porter barsto change the work rolls, heretofore this was the only option open tothe industry other than the very expensive fully automatic arrangements,such as turntables and side-shifters, used with push or pull work rollextractors. In addition to the very large initial capital expense whenattempts were made to adapt them to existing mills the automaticarrangements required substantial alteration to the mill; for example. aredesigning of the windows and bearing chocks to accommodate theextractors and the inclusion of roll supporting rails.

It is. therefore, the object of the present invention to provide adevice for changing one or more rolls of a rolling mill or likedevicewhich will not require the services of a crane or alterations tothe mill or device itself and which will permit accurate, positive, andrelatively rapid removal and replacement of the roll thereby eliminatingany possible damage to the adjacent parts, including roll damage.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a guided rollcarrying car located on the operators side of the mill for engaging theend or ends of one or more rolls of the mill for removing and replacingthe roll or rolls relative thereto. said car including means on the carfor cantileverly supporting the roll or rolls, and a counterweight whichis readily and accurately adjustable to permit accurate control of theroll or rolls when being lowered in the mill.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide theaforesaid car with a linkage system for the means that supports the rollor rolls for assuring that the roll or rolls will be maintained parallelto a desired plane even though the roll or rolls are vertically adjustable while carried by the car.

These objects, as well as other novel features and advantages of thepresent invention, will be better under stood when the followingdescription of one'embodiment thereof is read along with theaccompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1A is an elevational view of a roll carrying car constructed inaccordance with the present invention arranged on the operator's side ofa rolling mill showing the car in its inoperative position;

FIG. 1B is a view similar to FIG. 1A, showing the'car in an operativeposition adjacent the rolling mill;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view of the car shown in FIGS. 1A and 18;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along lines 3-3 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is an end view taken on lines 44 of FIG. 2

of the car.

In referring first to FIG. 1A, there is shown a work roll changing car10 being supported on a pair of spaced parallel rails 12 arranged on theoperators side of a rolling mill and which extends, as will be seenlater, from a position remote from the window of the mill to a positionadjacent thereto. The car engages the rails 12 by two pairs of wheels 14and 16, the wheels 16 being driven by a chain and hydraulic gear motordrive 18. While the other important elements of the car 10 will bedescribed later in connection with FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, sufficient at thispoint is to call attention to the roll carrying member 20 mounted on thefront of the car 10 having two openings 22 for receiving the adjacentends 24 of two work rolls 26 of a rolling mill for cantileverlysupporting the rolls as a set during exchange of the rolls to and fromthe mill.

To the right of the car 10 as one views FIG. 1A supporting the set ofrolls 24 is a platform 28 of a sideshifting device 30. It will beappreciated that the rolls shown in FIG. 1A represent a new set of rollswhich have been set on the platform 28 in readiness for insertion intothe mill after the worn roll set presently in the mill has been removedtherefrom. Accordingly, the platform 28 is positioned to the left orright of the mill window so that in the position of the elements shownin FIG. 1A the car 10 is free to move over the rails 12 pass the rolls26. The side-shifter 30 will have a second platform similar to theplatform 28 which will be moved independently of the platform 28 forsupporting the worn roll set when brought from the mill by the car 20and lowered onto the second platform after it has been brought into aposition in front of the car once the car is moved from the mill to theposition shown in FIG. 1A. One of the piston cylinder assemblies of theplatforms is shown at 32 in FIG. 1A along with the pair of rails 34 onwhich the platform are supported and moved into and out of theirposition in front of the mill.

Turning now to FIG. 1B, the car 20 is illustrated in phantom in aposition adjacent a four-high rolling mill 36 and having its member 20engaging in a cantilever fashion, the adjacent ends of a set of wornwork rolls 38. To accomplish this it will be noted that the rails 12extend to a position adjacent the mill 36 so that the car can beproperly positioned to remove and insert worn and new rollsrespectively. The movement of the car to the location shown in FIG. 1Bis not interfered with by the platform 38 or the rolls 26 because atthis time and which is true of the second platform they have been movedto opposite sides of the rails 12.

Returning now to complete the description of the car 10 as more fullyillustrated in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, in order to be able to rapidly butaccurately adjust the member 20 of the car 10 there is provided acounterweight 40 being trunnion mounted at its front end by a shaft 42.The shaft 42 is supported at the top of two spaced-apart pedestals 44constructed as part of the frame 46 of the car 10.

It is to be noted that the counterweight 40 extends to the left of theshaft 42 as viewed in FIGS. 2 and 3 into parts 40a between which partsis inserted the member 20 and pivotally connected to the parts 40a by ashaft 48. The lower end of the member 20 is similarly pivotallyconnected to a pair of links 50 by a shaft 52. The other end of thelinks 50 is pivotally secured to the frame 46 by a shaft 54. The pivotalconstruction of the parts 40a of the counterweights and the links 50 andthe fact that these parts 40a and the links 50 are equal in length withthe shaft 42 and 54 being arranged in the same vertical plane presents aconstruction that will allow the member 20 and rolls carried thereby tobe raised and lowered while maintaining the rolls parallel to theworking position they assumed when they are in the mill 36.

The vertical movement of the roll carrying member 20 is accomplished bya piston cylinder assembly 56 arranged to extend between the frame 46and the counterweight 40 at the end of the car 10 opposite the member20. The piston cylinder assembly is single acting with a variablepressure control and arranged to lift the counterweight 40 and, hence,to lower the member 20 and rolls carried thereby.

As best shown in FIG. 4, the extent of upward movement of thecounterweight 40 is controlled by a motorized jack 58 which needs to beonly of a small capacity sufficient to move against the pressure of thepiston cylinder assembly 56 when it is required to lower the member 20.The lower end of the rod of the jack passes through an opening in theframe 46 and to which is secured a pair of stop plates 60. The phantomshowing of the stop plates 60 in FIG. 4 indicates the lower adjust mentof the jack and the maximum upward range of movement of thecounterweight 40. The counterweight is designed to move upwardly onoperation of the piston cylinder assembly 56, hence lowering the rollsuntil the prepositioned stop plates 60 hit the upper part of the frame46. When the pressure is removed from the piston cylinder assembly 56,the weight of the counterweight, which is 5 to percent greater than theset of roll assemblies, will lower the counterweight and raise the rollsuntil the piston of the assembly 56 rests on the bottom of its cylinderor an adjustable stop, not shown. The total weight of a pair of workrolls of the type illustrated in FIG. 1 will be of the order of 40,000lbs. The jack 58 is adjusted by a pair of hand wheels 62 arranged at thefront of the counterweight 40, the hand wheels being connected to thejack through a miter gear drive 64 and a shaft 66.

In operation, and in referring to removing the worn rolls 38 from themill 36, the car 10 will be brought to the position shown in phantom inFIG. 13 with the pressure on the piston cylinder assembly 56 and themember positioned by operation of the piston cylinder assembly, and ifnecessary, the jack 58 to allow the openings 22 to be aligned with theends of the rolls 38. After this. the rolls are engaged by the member 20and the pressure in the piston cylinder assembly 56 is exhausted toraise the rolls to a position shown in FIG. 18 where the lower work roll38 is lifted free of the lower back-up roll and the upper work rollassumes a spacedrelationship with the upper back-up roll. This spacedrelationship is permitted since the upper back-up roll has beenpreviously raised in preparation for the work roll changing operation.The upper movement of the work rolls is controlled by the piston of thepiston cylinder assembly 56 contacting the bottom of its cylinder whichmovement is within the space allowed in the mill so that the upper workroll will not hit against the upper back-up roll. It will be appreciatedthat the pistons contact with the cylinder will be very slightlyrepresented by the amount the counterweight exceeds the weight of therolls and the member 20.

Once cantileverly supported by the car 10, the rolls 38 will beretracted to a position where they can be lowered by the car onto thesecond platform of the side-shifter 30. After this the car 10 is furtherretracted to disengage the rolls and allow the second platform to moveout from in front of the mill and the platform 28 to move in front ofthe mill and in front of the car 10. This will place the new set of workrolls 26 in position to be engaged and raised off the platform 28 by themember 20 of the car 10 since the rolls are supported by identicalbearing chocks and there will be no difference in the location of theaxes of the rolls of the worn and new set so that there will be no needto adjust the member 20. It should be noted that the set of worn and newwork rolls are provided with either a nested chock construction,removable stools or built-in stools that allow the upper work roll to besupported by the lower work roll during their transit.

Once raised, the platform 28 is moved to the side of the mill oppositeto the side that the second platform was moved and the car 10 carryingthe new work roll set 26 in cantilever fashion is advanced to theposition of FIG. 1B. In raising the rolls 26 off the platform 28, thepiston cylinder assembly 56 is exhausted which condition will remainuntil the rolls 25 are inserted into the window of the mill 36. While inthis raised position the new rolls assume the same elevation as the wornrolls when positioned for their removal from the mill so that the newrolls will be properly aligned with respect to the driving couplings ofthe mill for automatic insertion of the rolls into the couplings. Oncein the mill 36, pressure will be introduced into the piston cylinderassembly 56 to raise the counterweight 40 and lower the rolls 26 to theextent allowed by the stop plates of the jack 58. The setting of thejack will be such that the piston cylinder assembly 56 will not lowerthe roll enough so that the lower work roll will hit against the lowerback up roll. Instead, the final lowering of the work rolls onto theback-up roll will be performed by operation of the jack 58 to raise thecounterweight 40 against the pressure of the piston cylinder assembly 58and very slowly and carefully lower the work rolls until the lower workroll is supported by the lower back-up roll. At this point the car canbe retracted to its inoperative position shown in FIG. 1A.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I haveexplained the principle and operation of my invention and haveillustrated and described what I consider to represent the bestembodiment thereof.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for removing and replacing a roll to and from a rollingmill or the like, comprising:

a car arranged on the operators side of said mill, said car including amember at its end adjacent to the mill for cantileverly supporting aroll in a position parallel to its working position when the roll is insaid mill,

said car including a counterweight arranged to offset at least a part ofthe weight of said roll when supported by said member,

means for pivotally supporting said counterweight,

linkage means for connecting said counterweight to said member inorder'that vertical movement of said counterweight is translated to saidmember,

means for effecting said vertical movement of said counterweightcomprising a piston cylinder assembly.

means for restricting the upper movement of said counterweightcomprising a mechanical jack having a stop means,

means for mounting said mechanical jack on said counterweight formovement therewith, and

said stop means of said mechanical jack constructed and arranged forcontacting with said car on said upper movement of said counterweight.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said jack and stop meansare so arranged that operation of said jack will bring about a raisingof said counterweight and an accurate lowering of said member.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said piston cylinderassembly is a single action piston cylinder assembly constructed andarranged so that its piston will limit the extent to which saidcounterweight is lowered and wherein the weight of said counterweight ismade to exceed the weight of said member and said

1. An apparatus for removing and replacing a roll to and from a rollingmill or the like, comprising: a car arranged on the operator''s side ofsaid mill, said car including a member at its end adjacent to the millfor cantileverly supporting a roll in a position parallel to its workingposition when the roll is in said mill, said car including acounterweight arranged to offset at least a part of the weight of saidroll when supported by said member, means for pivotally supporting saidcounterweight, linkage means for connecting said counterweight to saidmember in order that vertical movement of said counterweight istranslated to said member, means for effecting said vertical movement ofsaid counterweight comprising a piston cylinder assembly, means forrestricting the upper movement of said counterweight comprising amechanical jack having a stop means, means for mounting said mechanicaljack on said counterweight for movement therewith, and said stop meansof said mechanical jack constructed and arranged for contacting withsaid car on said upper movement of said counterweight.
 2. An apparatusaccording to claim 1 wherein said jack and stop means are so arrangedthat operation of said jack will bring about a raising of saidcounterweight and an accurate lowering of said member.
 3. An apparatusaccording to claim 1 wherein said piston cylinder assembly is a singleaction piston cylinder assembly constructed and arranged so that itspiston will limit the extent to which said counterweight is lowered andwherein the weight of said counterweight is made to exceed the weight ofsaid member and said roll.